A large part of PG&E's wildfire mitigation plan is to widen its program to shut down power in advance of dangerous fire weather

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BUTTE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 6: A PG&E transmission tower catches the late sunlight, Thursday, Dec. 6, 2018, in a forest burned by the Camp Fire north of Oroville, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

Embattled over its role in sparking some of California’s most destructive wildfires, PG&E vowed on Wednesday to shut off power more frequently during dangerous weather conditions in high-threat areas — a safety practice that critics say the utility should have taken last year before the deadly Camp Fire.

PG&E unveiled details of the plan in a mandatory wildfire mitigation report submitted to state regulators, warning that almost 10 times the number of customers — or 5.4 million homes equating to its entire service area — could potentially have their electricity shut off during high fire weather episodes, including areas outside high threat zones.

In addition to more power shutdowns, PG&E has proposed:

Removing 375,000 trees (up 235 percent) and clearing 2,450 miles of vegetation (up 320 percent) that could ignite near power lines.

Enhancing inspections on 685,000 distribution poles in high-threat areas, in addition to its routine inspections, and adding four times as many inspections of its transmission towers.

Hardening 150 circuit miles (up 880 percent) of its system, including improving 7,100 miles past next year. This would include covering overhead conductors, “select undergrounding” and upgrading equipment in the highest risk areas.

Allowing transmission lines at 500,000 volts or lower to be deenergized, significantly increasing the number of customers possibly impacted by a power shutdown.

The proposal must undergo significant review by the California Public Utilities Commission and the public before being finalized.

Some of the goals could be completely reached by the start of fire season in June, but some of the vegetation maintenance increases and other physical improvements would not be finished by then, according to PG&E estimates.

However, it’s the preemptive power shutdowns that will be the most noticeable change for the average PG&E customer, as the company plans to shut down larger transmission lines, which could cause communities outside high-threat areas to lose electricity even though the fire threat is not as severe there. PG&E’s de-energization plan last year could have impacted a total of only 570,000 people. The company received criticism after it warned of a possible outage ahead of the deadly Camp Fire, but despite dangerous conditions in Butte County it kept the power on and suffered malfunctions on at least two lines near the fire’s origin.

“We know how much our customers rely on electric service. Proactively turning off power is a highly complex issue with significant public safety risks on both sides — all of which need to be carefully considered and addressed,” said Michael Lewis, PG&E electric operations senior vice president. “We understand and appreciate that turning off the power affects first responders and the operation of critical facilities, communications systems and much more. We will only turn off power for public safety and only as a last resort to keep our customers and communities safe.”

Attorney Dario de Ghetaldi, who is suing PG&E on behalf of Camp Fire victims, reviewed the plan Wednesday afternoon and saw some “good ideas and aggressive timelines.”

“As best we can tell, PG&E stopped climbing towers to do their regular five-year inspections in 2009 and started using helicopters to do aerial inspections that are cheaper and take less time,” De Ghetaldi said. “Hopefully, the return to actual tower-climbing inspections will reveal problems like the worn components that failed and started the Camp Fire. As to vegetation management … the devil is in the details.”

No official cause has been determined for the Camp Fire, which killed 86 people, but the company’s stock has nose-dived since the blaze and it faces an avalanche of civil litigation from affected residents. PG&E filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week, listing $51.7 billion in debts and $71.4 billion in assets, according to the filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Northern California.

De Ghetaldi said past fires caused by PG&E show that the company has created programs “that look good on paper but fail in the execution.”

The wildfire mitigation plan is an attempt to halt a troubling trend the last two years of catastrophic blazes, and it could potentially influence how a federal judge alters the struggling company’s criminal probation terms.

All investor-owned utilities under Senate Bill 901 had to submit their plans Wednesday that detailed how they planned to prevent, combat and respond to wildfires affecting their service territories. U.S. District Judge William Alsup is presiding over PG&E’s ongoing criminal case, stemming from the 2010 San Bruno gas pipeline explosion that ended with the company convicted on six felonies, and has indicated he will be watching the utility’s plan closely. Last week, Alsup ruled that the company violated its probation terms by not being forthright about causing a number of wildfires in Butte County, and the judge threatened to levy strict and expensive changes to the probation terms.

“Does a judge turn a blind eye and let PG&E continue what you’re doing, let you keep killing people?” Alsup asked PG&E attorneys last week inside a San Francisco courtroom during a three-hour evisceration. “Can’t we have electricity that is delivered safely in this state?”

PG&E has warned that drastic changes to its probation, such as inspecting its entire electrical system before the next fire season, could add significant costs, estimating customer bills could rise five-fold.

PG&E was found to have started 17 wildfires over the last two years, and the company has reported electrical malfunctions in the area where the Camp Fire — the state’s most deadly and destructive wildfire — started last year.

The PUC will now evaluate the mitigation plan, a process that will include workshops and public comment opportunities. Five other investor-owned utilities — Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric, Liberty Utilities/CalPeco Electric, Bear Valley Electric Service, and Pacific Power — submitted plans Wednesday as well.